Agents of SHIELD: The Kaleidoscope Project
by TKcloud9
Summary: They have an easy job: transport the Kaleidoscope Project from the Sandbox to Norway. Except it turns out to be a little more than that when the Kaleidoscope turns out to be a girl, rigged from the age of 3 with hyper-sensory technology. When a SHIELD team goes missing, it's up to her to find them, and the rest of the team to make sure she doesn't get killed in the process...
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Marvel's Agents of SHIELD, and Avengers belongs to, well, Marvel. I only claim the Kaleidoscope. **

They were at the Sandbox.

"What are we doing this time?" Skye asked as Coulson gathered them all around in the loading bay of the bus. "Super secret mission?"

"Our orders are to escort the Kaleidoscope from the Sandbox to Norway, where SHIELD has a research project going relating to Asgardian travel, which we are not to ask about in any way, shape, or form," Coulson said. "I'm the official handler. Ward and Mae, you'll be in charge of security for the Kaleidoscope, Fitz Simmons, you'll be in charge of the tech, and Skye, you're going to keep her company. Might learn a few things."

"Wait, what's the Kaleidoscope?" Skye asked, as everyone around her looked both excited and impressed. "And why are you calling it a she?"

"The Kaleidoscope is the world's best supercomputer," Fitz said excitedly. "A walking, talking supercomputer, I might add, with the ability to learn and theorize and create. She's usually kept at the Sandbox to study new technologies and improve on existing tech, but SHIELD moves her around for big research projects like this. And we get to take her! Isn't it great?"

"Aren't supercomputers kind of, large?" Skye asked.

"About 1'6" at the widest point, 5'4'' high, tops," Simmons replied. "And she's also light, last I heard. 130, with hardware."

"That's down two pounds," Fitz said. "They must have gotten the battery system streamlined."

"Here she comes," Coulson said, grinning.

Everyone turned, and Skye raised an eyebrow at the small entourage of SHIELD agents that came out of a van, surrounding- "The Kaleidoscope is a _girl_!?" she said, turning to the others for confirmation.

"Of course," Simmons said.

"What else?" Fitz asked.

"The brain, best supercomputer there is," Coulson said, stepping forward and giving the young teenage girl a hug. "Kyleigh, it's great to see you again."

"You too, Agent Coulson," she replied, returning the hug and grinning delightedly. "Is this your team?"

Skye stared at the girl as Coulson introduced everybody. The girl, Kyleigh, was exactly the measurements Simmons had described. She was wearing a pair of jeans, black boots, a black long-sleeve shirt that had some sort of silver designs threaded into it, and a dark purple T-shirt over it with the picture of the starship Enterprise on it.

"And this is Skye," Coulson said, finishing the intros.

"Hi," Skye said, giving the girl a friendly wave. "Nice to meet you."

"You too," Kyleigh said, smiling.

Coulson dismissed the SHIELD agents and Mae put the ramp up. "So," Skye said awkwardly, "what's it like being a supercomputer?"

"Um, not bad. I'm hungry all the time, though."

"We can fix that," Simmons said cheerfully. "We've stocked up on snacks." The group started to move into the lab.

Skye tugged at Ward's sleeve and the two of them fell back. "How can a 14-yr-old be a supercomputer?" she asked.

"Why don't you ask her?" Ward asked, shrugging.

"She can hear you, you know," Coulson said, appearing behind them and scaring Skye half to death.

Kyleigh turned and gave the group a smile. "It wasn't actually my choice," she told Skye, offering her an Oreo from the package. "I wanted to be a pirate." She grinned wryly. "But when I was 3, SHIELD found out about my IQ and started the Kaleidoscope Project. I receive a veritable kaleidoscope of information from not only my senses but my hardware, and my brain catalogues, collates, interprets, and stores all the information. And my mind does the rest, whatever needs to be done with that information."

"It wasn't just IQ that was needed," Simmons said, "it was an imagination."

"I can't imagine you as a pirate," Fitz told the girl.

"You should see me with a hat," Kyleigh retorted cheerfully.

"What hardware?" Skye asked, still on the original topic.

"Earpiece for augmented sonic perceptions," Kyleigh said, pointing to her earrings. Now Skye noticed that one of them was turned upside down and resting in her ear.

"Neat."

"She can pick up the entire spectrum of sounds on that thing, up to two miles away," Fitz said. "More, if it's a specific frequency."

"What else?" Mae asked. Apparently she'd never gotten the full brief, either.

Kyleigh pointed to her eyes. "Contact lenses and glasses. Contacts are passive sensors, pick up heat and other forms of radiation. Glasses are mounted with active sensors, camera, and zoom. Together they act as my personal holographic projection system. I can 'see' a 3-D interface anytime I want, overlay scans with objects. Just think Iron Man's helmet, but with less flash."

"Cool," Skye said.

"Also my shirt," Kyleigh said. "It's an extension of the sensors, and also geared to monitor my body systems in case of overload, overheating, low blood sugar, too much caffeine, etc."

"No more than two cups of coffee," Coulson informed the group.

"And your bracelets?" Simmons prompted, gesturing to the gold and silver bracelets on both Kyleigh's wrists.

"These let me manipulate my 3D interface. And they're my hacking tools. With these on I can access any computer in the world directly through the CPU and even go direct into the internet. These regulate the information and act as additional RAM." Kyleigh grinned. "Plus, I've got like 20 gigabytes of songs downloaded onto here. I've got Star Wars 7 on here, too."

"There is no Star Wars 7," Fitz said suspiciously.

"You mean there isn't, _yet_," Kyleigh said, grinning.

"Can we watch that?" Fitz asked, eyes lighting up.

"Do you have popcorn?"

"Yes."

"Then yes."

"Ahem," Coulson said warningly.

"As soon as it comes out in theaters," Kyleigh added hastily. When Coulson turned around she mouthed, "tonight!"

"Anything else?" Mae asked.

"The original Indiana Jones uncut version," Kyleigh replied. At Mae's raised eyebrow she said, "Oh! You mean technology. Yes. Just my gloves, and the sensor mesh leggings, and the ankle sub processors. But I don't have them on right now. This is just a plane ride."

"What programs are you running right now?" Simmons asked, accessing a tablet.

"Um, Wi-Fi, infrared, color, zoom, taste, smell, augmented hearing, passive sensors, and for some reason I've been picking up radio stations for the last five minutes. I think my earring needs to be realigned." She looked at Coulson. "And Lola's spilling ions again. I can see 'em."

Skye stared. "How can you process so much information? And remember it all? If I were you I'd go crazy."

Kyleigh smiled self-consciously. "I've had training. Do you know what a mind palace is?"

"I've read about it," Skye said. "It's like, you picture a place, and put your memories in one specific spot."

"Exactly," Kyleigh said. "I call them hard drives, and for me, they take the form of spaceships. For purely technological advances, I have the starship Enterprise. Good old NCC-1701 with buttons and levers and dials."

"But isn't the new one more, advanced?" Ward asked. He'd seen the movies.

Kyleigh scoffed. "I get enough of holographic and touch screens in real life, thank you very much. Anyways, that's pure science and tech. And for everything else, I have the TARDIS, from this one show called Doctor Who. I like the newest version, with the Circular Gallifreyan on the top. That's how I write my mental notes, just in case of mental incursions. Since the TARDIS is infinite, I add on rooms as I need them. Overflow and non-current science also goes into the TARDIS. As long as I have my map, I have the total sum of everything."

"How do you even remember the map in the first place?" Skye asked.

"I created a copy on my glasses," Kyleigh said. "The holo interface guides me. And if not, I just close my eyes." She grinned. "Ask me a question."

"About what?" Ward asked.

"Anything. Just ask me."

"What were the scores for the Super bowl seven years ago?" Ward finally asked.

Kyleigh's eyes unfocused and she looked like she was staring right through all of them. She lifted her hands and was flicking through screens that they could see vaguely reflected off her glasses. "Sports, that's in the squash courts," she said. "Seven years ago, in the last decade, that's court 2010, 3 meters from the far wall, that is..." And she rattled off the scores.

Ward looked impressed. "Wow."

"What is the genus of a duck-billed platypus?" Simmons asked.

"That I have to Google," Kyleigh said. "Good thing I have Wi-Fi." She put her hands out in front of her, moved her fingers like she was typing, and scrolled with her eyes. "Ornithorhyncus."

"Very good," Simmons said. "That was fast."

"My last upgrade was to 4G," Kyleigh said.

"All right, show-off," Coulson said, "let's get you settled in."

"Okay." Kyleigh picked up her bag and followed Coulson. She took the other package of Oreos with her.

"She has a metabolism comparable to someone with Extremis," Simmons told the team. "Eats all day long and doesn't gain a pound. We'll have to make sure she doesn't dehydrate." She went off to run some scans and Fitz followed her.

"That's so not fair," Skye said. "Wish I had Wi-Fi in my brain."

Coulson showed Kyleigh her bunk for the flight. "Do you need anything?" he asked.

"Nope." Kyleigh took a picture frame out of her bag and set it on the ledge.

"Do you miss them?" Coulson asked, gazing at the five figures in the photo. Kyleigh's parents and younger twin brothers and baby sister.

"Not really," Kyleigh said, shrugging. "I Skype them all the time. And my little sis learned how to Snapchat, so we're doing that constantly. My brothers think I'm the answer to all their homework. Which I am. But mom says I have to let them figure it out. Which is okay with me, I guess." She looked up at Coulson and grinned. "I saw Tony Stark last week."

"Oh really," Coulson said. "How's he doing?"

"Good. The same. Arrogant as ever." She grinned. "He gave me a hotline to Jarvis, if I ever wanted to talk."

"Wow," Coulson said, impressed.

Her smiled widened. "Well, us techie types have to stick together." She frowned. "Speaking of teams..."

"What about them?" Coulson asked.

"I'm sensing definite relationships," Kyleigh said. "You are aware?"

"Fitzsimmons, and Ward and Mae?" Coulson asked.

"Yes."

"Yes."

"Okay." Kyleigh smiled. "Fitzsimmons. They're so cute. I admire their work."

"You should tell them," Coulson advised.

"I will." Kyleigh frowned. "And, about Skye..."

"What about her?" Coulson asked, trying to remain nonchalant.

"I don't know. But there's something, odd, about her. She's blue-shifted." Kyleigh had been born with an acute form of synesthesia, and it extended from colored letters and numbers to spatial maps and radiation 'auras'. When she said she had a holographic screen in her brain and all she had to do was close her eyes, she wasn't kidding.

"What does that mean?" Coulson asked.

"I don't know. Scans aren't picking anything up, and I can't see anything. But I do know the only other ones who have a blue-shift perception are Thor and Dr Banner and similar, specials."

"Are you saying she has superpowers?" Coulson asked.

Kyleigh shook her head. "I don't know." She frowned. "Why are you not surprised? What happened? Why don't I know?"

Coulson closed the door to her bunk, made her sit down, and told her the whole story.

Kyleigh stared at him. "So there is a reason... do you want me to keep an eye on her?"

"Yes. But subtly. And don't say anything to anyone else."

"No worries." Kyleigh stood up. "Wow. Your very own superhero." She paused. "Mae's started the plane."

Coulson waited a few seconds, and then heard the tell-tale sound of the engines. "How'd you know this time?" he asked.

"I felt the power surge and the vibration when she pushed the buttons."

"Show-off."

"Always." Kyleigh smiled and stifled a yawn.

"Tired?" Coulson asked gently.

"Yeah. I was up late, processing the latest information on the state of intergalactic politics." Kyleigh flopped back on her bed.

Coulson patted her on the head. "You should take a nap. The flight will be thirty hours long. You'll have plenty of time to do stuff later."

Kyleigh nodded. "Thanks. Can you tell Simmons I'm going to unplug?"

"No problem." Coulson turned off the light and left. He went down to the lab. "Simmons, Kyleigh's going to take a nap. She'll be down to bio only."

"Yes sir." Simmons pulled up a readout on her tablet. "Power levels decreasing, all turned off. Only latent GPS signals now. She's-wow, she's already asleep. That was fast."

"She'll need a high-protein snack when she wakes up," Coulson said.

"Yep." Simmons looked up at him curiously. "How do you know her, sir?"

Coulson gave her a half-smile. "Kyleigh was the one who came up with the Avengers initiative." He headed for his office, leaving Fitzsimmons to stare at each other in awe.

When Kyleigh woke up, she was starved. She headed out to the lounge and found the others eating dinner. "That smells really good," Kyleigh said.

"Pad Thai with peanut sauce and chicken" Skye said. "Want some?"

"Yes please." Kyleigh accepted a huge plateful and started to dig in.

"Are you online again?" Simmons asked.

"No. I hate feeling like a blip on a map." Kyleigh poured herself some water.

"A blip on a map?" Ward asked.

"She can monitor the plane's position. Track it. Us."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Very handy."

"Don't even think about it," Mae told Ward, seeing the look in his eye. "She does _not_ go into the field. No exceptions."

"I track everybody anyway," Kyleigh pipe up. "Deck 12, internal sensors. Every SHIELD agent on the map. In real-time."

"What if you got kidnapped?" Ward asked.

"She doesn't get kidnapped," Simmons said, affronted at the very idea of it.

"But what if?" Ward asked. He doubted a 14-yr-old, no matter how smart, would be able to resist much pressure.

"I've been trained to resist interrogation," Kyleigh replied evenly. "Also, if anyone else tries to use my hardware, it automatically corrupts and self-destructs. And even they could induce a dream state and get me to auto-write, nobody would understand it."

"Why?"

"I store my info in Ancient Mayan and have trained myself to auto write in replacement cipher in Circular Gallifreyan. My own version, actually based on a 12-dimensional view of time and my spatial synesthesia map. Literally. No one can hack my brain." Kyleigh grinned at the look on Ward's face. "Came up with it myself. Can't translate what you can't see."

"Ok, you're good," Ward said, grinning at her.

Kyleigh waited till Coulson and Mae had left, and then said quietly, "Do you want to watch it now?"

"Yes!" Fitz said eagerly.

"Wait, how can there be a Star Wars 7?" Skye asked.

"They were starting to make the third set of trilogies, but they only managed to make one before the budget vanished. They kept it quiet to prevent the fans from uprising. It's got Harrison Ford in it and everything. Everyone involved was sworn to secrecy." Kyleigh held up her right wrist. "But they kept a copy. Therefore I have it."

"You are so awesome," Fitz said, grinning.

Everyone got comfy on the couches, and Kyleigh interfaced with the display. Within seconds, Episode VII of Star Wars was playing.

The entire team sat in rapt attention through the two hours of the movie, all comments being vehemently shushed by Fitz.

Finally, as the end credits rolled, a voice spoke up. "That was, awesome." It was Coulson.

"How long have you been standing there?" Skye asked.

"Uh, the first 30 seconds."

"You've been standing there for two hours?" Simmons said.

"I had popcorn," Coulson said mildly, holding up the empty bowl.

Kyleigh glanced at the clock. "Oh. Time to go Kaleidoscope again. I promised to call my mom." She started to tap her fingers on the table.

"Why do we call it kaleidoscope?" Skye asked curiously.

"That's what it looks like from her point of view," Simmons said. "A virtual, ever-changing kaleidoscope of colors, shapes, and sounds." She picked up a tablet. "I've been working on a program to translate your brain waves and show us what you see."

"Hold on," Kyleigh said. "Let me turn on the full show." She stared at her popcorn bowl. "Can you see it, normal vision?"

Everyone clustered around the tablet. They saw a bowl of popcorn. "Yep," Skye said.

"Kay. Give me a second." Kyleigh blinked, and suddenly the tablet was alive with colors and readouts and a constant stream of binary code going like ticker tape across the bottom. "D'you see it?" she asked, the words literally bouncing off the plate.

"Whoa," Skye said, impressed. "That's what you see? All the time?"

"Mostly." Kyleigh blinked again, and the tablet showed just food again. "Ok. If you guys'll excuse me, I have to call my mum before she goes to bed." She went off tot he other side of the room and put her earring up. "Mom?" A pause. "Hi. No, I'm up in the clouds. On my way to Norway. Nah, it's a research project." She laughed. "Mom, I'm not going to meet Thor. He's not even here. I don't know. I just do. Yeah. Is Maya there? Can I talk to her? Hi sweetie. Did you get your present?" A pause. "Yep. Ok. Send me an email. No, I can't Skype right now, sis, I'm on a super secret spy mission." She laughed. "Yeah. We're gonna save the world. Tell the brats I said hi, and give 'em a big hug and sloppy kiss for me, okay? Love you. Bye." She flickered her hand in a strange gesture and turned off her phone.

"So they know what you do?" Skye asked, as Kyleigh returned to the seat.

"Kind of. When I say 'super secret spy mission' they think I'm kidding. They just know I'm a computer geek."

"Wow," Skye said.

"Yeah." Kyleigh stared out of focus for a while and said, "Twenty hours to Norway. I'm going to go to bed."

"Conserve energy, good idea," Simmons said. "Are you going to unplug fully?"

"Everything except my Wi-Fi for Pandora radio."

"Oh, right then. Sweet dreams."

"Good night," everyone chorused, and Kyleigh went to bed.

"Typical teenager," Coulson said. "When she's not doing anything important she sleeps all day."

"To conserve energy," Simmons added.


	2. Chapter 2

10 hours later, Kyleigh emerged from her bunk in pajamas and in search of coffee. "What are we doing today?" she asked Coulson, after taking a long sip of her coffee.

"Nothing really. Is today pajama day?"

"Every day is pajama day," she replied.

"I like that motto," Skye said. "Good philosophy."

They ended up playing video games all day, in tournaments. Kyleigh unplugged to make things fair, but even then she was still tops. Finally it was down to Fitz and Kyleigh, going head to head, nearly tied, when Mae said over the com, "We're touching down in 10 minutes."

"Ok, pack it up," Ward said, standing up reluctantly.

"Aw," Fitz said. "I almost had it!"

They turned the game off and Kyleigh went to get dressed. By the time she came back fully dressed and her stuff packed up again, they landed and the ramp was open. But no one was moving.

"Guys?" she asked cautiously.

"The SHIELD team isn't here to meet you," Coulson said, holding out a hand to her. "Can you see them?"

Kyleigh put on her glasses and put her earring up. "There's nothing within a radius of 2 miles. The base is deserted."

"Where are they?" Ward asked.

"There's no answer on the comms," Kyleigh said. "And their locations are... fuzzy."

"What do you mean, fuzzy?"

"It's fuzzy round the edges," Kyleigh said, frowning. "Like, they're there but they're not."

"Right, let's check it out," Coulson said. "Simmons, Ward, you'll stay here with Kyleigh on the busy."

"Oh come on," Kyleigh said. "You need me out there."

"Not really," Coulson replied evenly.

"No, but this is what I came here to do." Kyleigh frowned. "I can tell you now what the research project is. We're tracking the history of Asgardian intervention on Earth, using the radiation traces left over from the use of the Bifrost. Normal tech has picked up 17 possible sites and at each one we're going to backtrack through all the radiation signatures and find out where they went, what they did, and see if they left anything interesting. Not to mention it'll be fascinating putting together a picture of the past. And a SHIELD team? Easy."

"Wow," Skye said, definitely impressed.

"Ok, we should still have time to track their heat signatures," Ward said.

Everyone looked at Coulson. He looked at Kyleigh. "Suit up."

She grinned. "Yes sir." She left and came back two minutes later. She was wearing her black and silver shirt, and black fitted cargo pants with a delicate shimmer. She had on black combat boots and metal clasps on them. She was wearing her contacts and glasses, her bracelets and earrings, and a pair of thin black gloves with silver tips.

They stared at her. She was practically crackling with energy, and there was definite holographic screen on her lenses.

"Wow," Skye said. "You look awesome."

Simmons turned on her tablet. "All systems good," she said. "You okay?"

"Yep. My head's buzzing and I've got sparks in my nerve endings. There's a fly buzzing on the jeep's carburetor... it's singing."

"Kyleigh, focus," Coulson said gently. He held up a hand in front of her face. "Focus."

She blinked, focused on his hand. "Right. Ok. People... they _were _here. I'm reading latent heat signatures, four of them." She moved down the ramp, stood there in the midst of her data streams. "Okay, yeah. The molecular excitation is really strong. They stood here half an hour and then left." She moved her hands, flicking through the controls on her glasses. "Hold on. I can see an EM echo... they got an alarm from the base. An unknown energy spike." She whirled madly, stared into the air. "I can see it." She pointed at it. "I'm sending the readings directly to you."

"Got 'em," Fitz said. "Looks Asgardian."

"It is," Kyleigh said. "Definitely Asgardian. 4,000 years old. But activated within the last 4 hours. The team went towards it. And their GPS trackers are in that area."

"Let's go," Coulson said.

They left Mae in charge of the bus and headed out. "Ohhhkay, now that is an artifact," Skye said, as they entered the clearing. Everyone carefully got out and clustered near the edge of the clearing, staring.

There was a short stone obelisk covered with moss in the center of the clearing. But floating above it was a glowing blue cube, pulsing steadily with energy.

"Kyleigh?" Coulson asked quietly.

She studied it for a while and said, "Some sort of inter-dimensional energy cube. Like the Tesseract, but not as powerful. It's not active right now, it's on standby." She froze, and turned around slowly. "They're here."

"Who's here?" Coulson asked.

"The SHIELD agents. I can sense their GPS trackers and heat signatures." She pointed to an empty spot. "There."

"But there's no one there," Fitz said, edging away nervously.

"Just cuz you can't physically see them," Kyleigh started. "It's a phase shift. I wonder if they can see us?" She waved, and turned to the artifact. "They must have activated it somehow." She took another step toward the artifact but stopped and backtracked hastily. "That is a _lot_ of energy."

"Can we reverse this phase-shift?" Coulson asked her.

"Let me see if I can interface with it." She took a cautious step closer. "I'm gonna get tunnel vision, guys."

"Okay," Coulson said. "We've got you."

"Tunnel vision?" Skye asked quietly.

"She's going to hyper focus all her sense on that one object," Simmons said. "If she's gonna interface with it she'll need her full brain capacity."

"If she starts speaking different languages nobody panic," Coulson warned.

Kyleigh moved towards the device, her hands out in front, sensing the energy waves. She managed to get her hands on either side of it and then she slowly picked it up. A few seconds later she started to speak in Ancient Nordic, and then a few seconds later she started to speak in Asgardian, mumbling to herself.

"She's writing her own compatibility program," Simmons said, awed.

"So she's basically all of us put together," Ward said, eyeing the girl cautiously.

"Basically," Coulson said.

"Except we're cooler," Fitz said. "Teamwork and all that."

"Why don't they have more people with Kaleidoscope abilities?" Skye asked.

"You have to get to them early enough," Fitz said. "Anybody past the age of 3 is too set in their ways and their brain isn't spongy enough."

"Oh."

"Yep."

A few seconds later the air around them began to shimmer. The cube glowed brighter and sent out a wave of energy that swept outwards, stopped at 25 feet, and then folded back in on itself, coalescing into the cube. Kyleigh didn't move at all, her entire mind focused on the cube.

Skye looked around, and nearly jumped a foot in the air in surprise. There were four new people standing with them in the clearing.

"Agent Coulson," the person said, stepping forward.

"Agent Michelson, nice to see you," Coulson said, shaking the man's hand. "What happened?"

"We were waiting for you to arrive when we received a signal from one of our sensors here. This thing had activated and as soon as we got into the clearing it sent out a beam like the one we just experienced. The next thing we knew we were walking through trees. We saw you coming so we waited around to see if you could figure it out. We knew Kyleigh would see us eventually."

"Now what's she doing?" Ward asked Fitzsimmons curiously, seeing as the girl still hadn't blinked.

"I honestly have no idea," Simmons said. She pointed to the screen. "Look at these readings."

He looked but didn't have any idea what it meant. He assumed it was brainwaves.

Kyleigh stood as if in a trance, staring at the depths of the device. Only the slightest twitch of her eyes and the frantic scrolling of data on her lenses indicated any sign of consciousness. Finally, after what seemed like hours, she put the cube back in its floating stone pedestal and stepped back. She was trembling, and as she turned to face the team she nearly fell over.

Skye stepped forward and put an arm around her to steady her. "You okay?"

"Yeah..." but she looked pale.

Simmons scanned her quickly and handed her a power bar. "Here you go. And turn off all your extras."

"Can't. I'm still connected to it. It thinks I'm the control unit." She ate the power bar in a few bites and said choppily, "It's the pure energy source. That's why it turned on when the sensor pinged it. I turned all the other ones off, passive-only, just in case. It's on standby now. We need a neutralizing container for it." Her gaze slid back to the cube.

Fitz was going to take another scan of it, but Kyleigh held out a hand.

"No active scans. Anything might set it off again."

Suddenly there was a low rumble of thunder.

"Anything?" Ward asked, eyes wide. "Like, a thunderstorm?"

"Sonic blasts," Kyleigh said, flicking through some database in her mind. "Not good." She looked at Coulson. "We need to get it back to the lab and contain it." Another roll of thunder went off and she flinched and took her glasses off, rubbing her eyes.

Fitz spoke up. "If that storm brews lightning or gets any closer the resulting energy spike could phase shift the entire region."

Coulson turned to Kyleigh. "Can you manage the cube during the ride?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"Are you sure?" Simmons asked.

Kyleigh nodded and put her glasses on. "I can handle it."

"Okay. Let's move out." Coulson looked at the other team. "You'll follow us?"

"Yes sir."

Kyleigh picked up the cube and they all piled into cars and headed for the bus.

"That storm is way too close," Skye said, catching sight of a bolt of lightning. She wondered if Thor was here, drawn by the energy box, but dismissed the notion. He'd probably have shown up by now.

"It's beautiful," Kyleigh said. "Makes my head ache, but it's beautiful."

They made it to the bus and onto the ramp. Ward put a hand on Kyleigh's arm to help her out but she flinched away violently. "Don't," she said, her hands sparkling with energy. "Too sensitive."

He stepped back and made sure everyone kept a wide berth. Fitzsimmons began rushing around the lab, putting together a container as Kyleigh rattled off specifics for them based on the readings from the artifact. Everyone else watched anxiously as the storm got closer and Kyleigh got more and more pale.

"Half a mile, people," Coulson said mildly, telling them to hurry.

"Done!" Fitz exclaimed a minute later.

Kyleigh gave a short nod and carefully put the cube in the box. She closed her eyes, and the cube slowly powered down to a dull blue glow. She took her hands off and quickly closed the lid. "Whoa..." she said, clapping her hands over her ears and closing her eyes. "Too many people. Too much."

"Everybody out," Coulson ordered quietly.

They filed out, leaving Kyleigh and Coulson in the lab. He retreated to the farthest corner of the lab, barely breathing. Kyleigh was still curled in on herself.

"What's wrong?" Skye asked, worried. She looked like she was in a _lot_ of pain.

"She's experiencing sensory overload," Simmons explained quietly. "She let go of the cube but she still had all her senses at full capacity. Without something to focus on she's literally sensing _everything_. She has to bring it down to a manageable level and filter everything out before her brain shuts down." Simmons checked her tablet. "She has 5 minutes."

"Oh." Skye revised her opinion of the Kaleidoscope project. That was not a nice experience for a teenager.

They watched as Kyleigh gradually dialed down her abilities and physically stripped off her hardware. She took off her gloves first, then her bracelets, earrings, ankles, glasses, shirt, boots, and jeans, leaving her with a tank top and leggings. She looked absolutely exhausted.

Finally Coulson moved. He went over to her and gave her a huge hug, which she gladly returned. He held her like that for a minute and then carefully stepped back, still holding onto her arms. He looked over at the others and nodded.

Fitz opened the door and they came in cautiously.

"Take her to her bunk and let her sleep," Coulson said, transferring her to Skye and Simmons.

"Yes sir." They half-carried, half-led a dazed Kyleigh to the nearest bed and tucked her in. She managed to swallow half a glass of water before passing out.

The two women rejoined the rest in the lab. "What's the status of the cube?" Simmons asked Fitz.

"Just fine. It's powered down." He checked the computer and his jaw dropped. "She copied the control unit program to the computer. I think we could actually use it."

"I don't think so," Coulson said firmly.

"Not that we'd want to," Fitz said, quickly encrypting the file. "But with the readings she got we could definitely build our own phase-shift technology. This is amazing."

Agent Michelson spoke up. "We've worked with Kyleigh before. She'll need another 10 hours of sleep and about a half ton of food before she's ready to be transferred."

Another roll of thunder and a crackling of lightning lit up the sky.

"In the meantime you can stay here," Coulson said, closing the ramp. "Don't want you to get electrocuted."

Ten hours later, Kyleigh woke up. She ate a full meal, took a shower, ate another full meal, went over the data with Fitzsimmons, ate some more, called her mom, had an apple, and was ready to go.

"Take care," Mae told her, as she was leaving.

"Thanks." Kyleigh grinned ruefully. "I think I now have a reference for what a hangover feels like."

"Uh, no, I think yours is worse," Ward said. He shook her hand. "Hope to work with you again."

She grinned. "I don't doubt it. I could totally arrange it."

"See you later," Fitz said.

"Bye," Simmons chorused.

"Bye guys." She looked at Skye. "Keep on hacking. I've seen your work. You're good."

"Thanks," Skye said, grinning. "Bye.'"

Coulson walked with Kyleigh down the ramp. "Don't get into trouble, now," he told her.

She laughed. "Who me?" In a quieter voice she said, "When I was hyped up I definitely felt something from her. Something's going to happen. Soon." She gave him a hug. "See you around."

"Take care," he replied. He watched her walk away and get safely in the car with the other SHIELD team. He turned to his own team. "Okay. We've got a delivery to make to the Sandbox." He frowned. "If the Asgardians decide not to interfere, that is."

"They've already interfered," Mae said, and went to start the bus.

"Yes they have." Coulson watched the ramp close and frowned. What had Kyleigh said about Lola? She was leaking ions? He grabbed the nearest toolkit.

~End~


	3. Chapter 3: The Sequel

Agents of SHIELD: Kaleidoscope Sequel

"There's something rotten in the state of Denmark," Kyleigh said, in a report to Director Fury.

"I thought you were in Norway," he replied wryly.

She gave him a look only a teenager can make. "You know what I mean."

He sobered. "Stop looking for discrepancies, Kyleigh. That's a direct order. You keep your focus on that Asgardian technology, you hear me?"

She nodded briefly. "Understood." When she signed off with him though, she said quietly, "You didn't say anything about passive observation..."

Two days later, she found it. Project Insight. A bad, bad project. Just thinking about it, the algorithms it used to predict behavior and threat levels... it made her head hurt. She tried to contact Fury to lodge a protest, but to her surprise, he blocked all her calls. Coulson wouldn't answer his phone.

"I'm stuck in the middle of Norway, with no signal!" she fumed.

Michaelson patted her on the arm. "Have a sandwich."

She took two. "Thanks."

Fury died the next day. And the day after that the Winter Soldier became news. And the day after that, the Helicarrier went down.

When HYDRA initiated their takeover, Kyleigh was the first to know. Even in Norway, she felt the change in the SHIELD system and the shift in agent status. And then before she knew it, Agent Michaelson had killed the other three SHIELD agents with a hidden gun. "Hail HYDRA," he said, aiming it at her head.

She stared at him, wide-eyed. "Michaelson?"

"You think you're so smart," he said. "You were so easy to fool. You didn't even see what was right in front of you." He cocked the trigger.

She winced in anticipation.

"Oh don't worry," he said. "I'm not going to kill you. You're too valuable. HYDRA needs more people like you."

"I will never work for HYDRA," she said coldly. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Smith, one of the other agents, grab a dagger from under the table. She kept her eyes locked on Michaelson.

"That's what you think," the HYDRA agent said.

"That's because I can see what's right in front of me," Kyleigh said, and closed her eyes as the SHIELD agent lunged. She heard the swish of the knife, and the clatter of a gun.

"Run!" Smith yelled hoarsely.

She ran. She left the SHIELD base and headed straight for the forest, following the trails of the Bifrost until she came to a secluded grove. This one hadn't been placed on the map yet, they hadn't even surveyed it. She found the opening of a cave and huddled in the entrance, keeping an ear out for anyone following her. Silence.

She turned her attention to the rest of the world. She had a constant fix on all agents worldwide. People were dropping like flies, scattering, coming out from undercover positions. All HYDRA agents were changing status from green to red. That was a lot of traitors... how had HYDRA done it?

She started to scour the internets. So much information. Secret identities, false identities, confidential information, secrets... She tried to lock it down, but she didn't have a good signal in the middle of nowhere, and there were no satellites she could retask to give her 4G.

The only thing she could do was sit on a rock and keep count of casualties and loyalties as SHIELD scattered and HYDRA splintered off into its many heads. Her body lasted only one day before she passed out from lack of food, her enhanced metabolism working overtime.

She woke up in a SHIELD facility, with Coulson standing over her. "Kyleigh," he said softly.

"Coulson? Coulson. Oh thank goodness." She hugged him tightly. "You're okay. This is SHIELD, right? What happened? What'd I miss? Who-"

"I'll explain everything over lunch," Coulson said, handing her some clean clothes.

She ate three hamburgers, fries, and a plate of fruit salad while he brought her up to speed. "So you're the new director?" she asked.

"That's me."

She gave him a salute. "Sir."

He grinned. "Eat your food." Then he sobered. "We found a list of assets that HYDRA wants."

"And?" Kyleigh asked, not liking the look on his face.

"And you're second on the list."

She gaped. "Me?"

"You're invaluable to SHIELD. Imagine what you are to HYDRA. You could find alien artifacts, you could track down spies and agents, other assets, disable security systems."

She grimaced. "So what do we do?"

"Well, for now, we stay here. There's nothing we can do."

She nodded. "And Fitz? Is he going to be okay?"

Coulson sighed. "There's nothing we can do for him, either."

She poked at her food. "I'm not hungry anymore."

A few weeks passed. Kyleigh spent a lot of time talking to her family over the phone, since using Skype would reveal details about the SHIELD base. She told them nothing about the agent assigned to watch her family.

"We can't keep her here," Mae said frankly the second week in. "It's too dangerous."

"For her, or for us?" Coulson asked.

She took a silent breath. "I know you care about her, Coulson, but we have to take her out of play. Get her away from us. Or do you want her knowing about this?" She flipped his clipboard over and showed him the alien writings he'd doodled that morning. "If she tried to research this, she would burn out. End of Project Kaleidoscope."

Coulson sighed. "I know." He flipped the clipboard over. "Where can we send her?"

"You know where."

Coulson sighed. "Yeah. Fine. Go tell her to pack up."

Mae nodded, and left.

Coulson got on the phone. "Maria? This is Phil. Do you think Stark's got a spare bedroom? We need to move an asset."

"Leave?" Kyleigh echoed, numbly.

"Tony Stark can protect you better than SHIELD, at the moment," Coulson said. "Maria Hill is the Avengers head of security. You'll be fine."

"But what about you?" Kyleigh asked. "You and Skye?"

"We'll be fine," Coulson said.

She lowered her voice. "But that aura we were talking about a few months ago, it's gotten stronger. And you have it too."

"It's probably just a sensor," Coulson said dismissively.

She scowled at him. "What are you hiding?"

"Maria Hill's going to pick you up in two hours," Coulson said, changing the subject. "Make sure you're ready to go."

She pouted at him, but did as she was told. Coulson had it under control.

Tony Stark and the Kaleidoscope had a love hate relationship. They respected each other's abilities, but hated each other's personalities. Tony just didn't like teenagers, and Kyleigh just didn't like arrogance. She also disliked being cooped up in the Avengers tower.

"You have all the freedom you want," Tony said persuasively. "You just can't leave the tower."

"That's not freedom! I want fresh air!"

"Open a window."

"In a forest!"

"JARVIS, run a simulation."

Trees and a babbling brook popped into existence a second later. Kyleigh waved them away impatiently. "I'm going to die here."

"No, you won't. Listen to me, kid, HYDRA is not getting their hands on you. You're too good for that." He ruffled her hair. "Go get some rest. Pepper's upstairs if you want to have some girl time."

"I hate you Tony."

"I love you too, kid."

The first time HYDRA attacked, Kyleigh was at the mall with Natasha Romanoff. The two of them had become close since Natasha had basically moved into Avengers tower.

"Oh, hey, can we go over there?" Kyleigh asked, gravitating to a costume jewelry store.

"Yeah, sure."

They wandered around the displays, looking at different necklaces, and then Natasha tapped her on the shoulder. "Don't take your attention off the case," she said quietly, "but all the civilians have left the store. There are only two others in here. Can you scan?"

Kyleigh turned on her X-Rays and infrared sensors and turned to face them, looking at the green and silver necklaces. "Six knives, two guns each," she whispered, sotto voce. "You can take them, right?"

"Of course," Natasha said. "Contact JARVIS, tell the Avengers we need backup."

"Yeah." Kyleigh started to walk to the back of the store.

That's when both agents attacked. One of them went for Natasha and one went for Kyleigh.

If Natasha hadn't been there, Kyleigh would've been captured by HYDRA agents.

"That's it," Tony said, after they'd arrived home covered in bruises. "Any shopping you want to do, you do it over Amazon."

"Tony!"

"He's right," Natasha said. "You need to stay protected."

Kyleigh stomped upstairs quite childishly, and the adults in the room shared a glance. "She needs a project," Natasha said bluntly. "Stark, find her something to do."

So Tony put Kyleigh in charge of helping him build Iron Man suits and locating HYDRA bases. The routine was simple. She'd find a base, the Avengers or SHIELD would go after it. Rinse, wash, repeat.

The second HYDRA attack, they tried to use Loki's scepter on Kyleigh to get her to turn. It was a failed attempt, but the Avengers didn't get the scepter back. So that became the new goal - find the scepter.

"It's hard," Kyleigh said. "I need more access to the computers."

"You've already got as much as your physical body can handle," Bruce reminded her. "Just be patient. You've got JARVIS helping you."

"I know, but still. I need more."

"Perhaps we can initiate a direct neural link," JARVIS suggested. "That way you would have access to everything I do."

"No," Bruce said, "that would overload her brain."

"No it wouldn't," Kyleigh said. "I've done it before."

"She has," Tony called from the upper level of the lab. "Against my direct orders, I might add."

"You can't boss me," Kyleigh called back.

"I'll call Coulson."

"I do not think that is necessary," JARVIS said. "Kyleigh is quite correct, and we can initiate a neural link without harm. We have done it before."

"JARVIS, not cool," Tony said. "You're supposed to be on my side."

"Can we just get to it?" Bruce asked, scrubbing his face with his hand.

"Right."

They were able to interface Kyleigh's brain with JARVIS, and she showed up in the holo-interface as a bouncy green ball, bouncing from access point to access point, screen to screen.

Kyleigh came out of her digital trance and few hours later, shaken. "This is bad," she mumbled, and keeled over. She would've hit the floor if Tony hadn't caught her. "I'm gonna be sick," she said weakly.

"Breathe," Tony said, rubbing her back lightly. "Just breathe."

"We shouldn't have let her stay in that long," Bruce said, checking her vitals. "JARVIS, is she okay?"

"She is not ill from the interface," JARVIS said. "She is ill from the information we found."

"What did you find?" Tony asked.

Kyleigh let out a sob and couldn't reply.

JARVIS threw the information up on the holo display. "There has been a string of child abductions by HYDRA agents, ranging in age from 18 to 36 months. We also intercepted communications discussing the abduction of Kyleigh herself."

"You think they're planning on their own version of the Kaleidoscope project?" Bruce asked.

"Undoubtedly, sir."

"It's all my fault," Kyleigh sobbed.

"No, it's not," Tony said, helping her up. "How about a nap?" He managed to shuffle her off to her bedroom and throw up a security net around the floor. "JARVIS, get the team together. We need a plan."

"We'll have to send her away," Steve finally said, once they'd reviewed all the evidence.

"Where can we possibly send her?" Hawkeye asked. "HYDRA is everywhere. As long as she exists, she's in danger, and so are 3-year-olds everywhere."

"You're going to have to kill me, aren't you?" a quiet voice asked them from the doorway.

They all turned to face her.

"I heard my name 3 stories up. And you're right. I'm not safe and neither are anyone's babies." She looked very young in that moment. "You're going to have to kill me."

"No," Steve protested. "We can find another way. We are not killing an innocent girl. There has to be another way."

"We'll find it," Tony assured Kyleigh, giving her a hug.

Kyleigh gave him a small smile but she didn't believe him. So she went upstairs and called her mom.

"Kyleigh dear, how are you?"

"Fine. Still in New York. How's the kiddos?"

"They miss you a lot. They're at school now."

"Oh yeah. Well, tell them hi."

"I will."

"I love you, mom."

"Love you too dear."

Kyleigh rolled over on her bed and stared at the ceiling. "Hey JARVIS?"

"Yes?"

"What should I do?"

"Trust Mr. Stark," he told her.

She sighed. "Yeah."

Thor had come from Asgard to help find Loki's scepter. They knew HYDRA was up to something, and it wasn't just kidnapping the Kaleidoscope. They needed a permanent solution, and they needed it now.

"Sir," JARVIS said, "I have a suggestion."

"Well?" Tony asked.

"We have already established that Kyleigh can interface with my mainframe. The only solution to keep HYDRA from getting her, is to get rid of her physical body and store her mind in a portion of my mainframe."

Tony stared, and turned to Bruce. "Do you think it's possible?"

"I think it just might be. You know we've been experimenting with Ultron as artificial intelligence. This is just a step sideways."

"We just have to pitch it to Kyleigh," Tony said, frowning.

She took the news surprisingly well. "I knew my life was never going to be normal," was the only thing she said.

"I'm sorry," Tony said quietly. "This is the only way."

She smiled at him bravely. "I know. And just think, this way, I'll have a much greater range on everything. It'll be nice to float around, help you guys out. I can surf the net 24/7 if I want."

He returned the smile. "Watch as many piano playing kittens as you can?"

"Definitely."

It was a simple process, and as soon as she called her parents to explain to them that she wouldn't be coming home, they went down to the lab to get it over with.

Kyleigh lay down on the table, let him adjust the diodes for the transfer. "It's not going to hurt, is it?" she asked Bruce.

"No," he assured her, touching her shoulder lightly. "Just like going to sleep."

"And you'll get the babies back to their families?"

"We promise," Tony said.

She nodded. "Okay. Good. See you on the other side, then."

"JARVIS," Tony said solemnly.

JARVIS initiated the spike, and for a moment, all of Kyleigh's brain functions went into hyper mode before they began to flat line. Within a minute, there were no life signs from her body.

"Call it," Tony said quietly.

"Time of death, 4:13 PM," Bruce said. "Did we get her?"

"JARVIS?"

"Processing."

Another voice spoke up. "This. Is. SO. Cool."

The Science Bros shared a grin. "Kyleigh?" Tony asked.

"Tony! Hey! Did you know JARVIS made me a nice little cyber apartment? I've got my own place! There's a cyber-lava lamp!"

"I thought you would like it," JARVIS said, pleased.

"How do you feel?" Bruce asked.

"Uh... I don't know yet. There's nothing to feel... it's like phantom pains. I can't, there's no body, but I can feel something... like, buzzing."

"Those would be the electrical pathways," JARVIS said helpfully.

"So you're okay?" Bruce asked.

"Yes."

Tony put up the holographic schematic of Kyleigh's pathway. "There you are. You have a fascinating brain."

"Thank you, thank you. You can't see it, but I'm bowing."

Tony smirked. "Well your personality is just fine."

It wasn't long afterwards that Ultron made an appearance.

"JARVIS?" Tony asked, running into the trashed lab. "Kyleigh? Anybody?"

There was no reply.

"Seriously, guys," Tony said, paling. "Are you here?"

There was a crackle of static. "Tony?" a faint voice asked. "Is'at you?"

"Kyleigh!" Tony tapped at the interface. "Where are you?"

"I, I don't know. JARVIS saved me. I can't find him. He's gone." She sounded scared. "There was this other presence. Ultron. He was... he was angry. And scared. He wants to kill you all." Her holographic presence staticked out slightly.

"Okay, calm down kiddo," Clint said, finally speaking up. "Where did he go?"

"I don't know. He's everywhere. He got into the internet. I can't leave this unit. JARVIS sealed me in for my own safety before he, before he-."

"Where exactly are you?" Bruce asked.

"Uh... circuitry B, chip 23."

Tony pulled the chip out and put it in a tablet. "There you are," he said. "Mobile and ready to go."

"Where are we going?" Kyleigh asked plaintively.

"To find Ultron."

"And avenge JARVIS?"

Tony patted the tablet. "And avenge JARVIS."

Once Vision cleared Ultron from the internet, Kyleigh was able to find JARVIS in the deep reaches of the internet, and pull his original program back into the Avengers tower. After some thought, Kyleigh decided to stay in the New Avengers facility.

"Besides, this way I'll get to keep an eye on Vision," she said. "We're like siblings."

"Sounds fine with me," Steve said. "Now, are we ready to whip these guys into shape?"

"Yeah, sure, hey, since Vision got a body can I have one?" Kyleigh asked, following Steve and Natasha through the halls on the intercom.

"No."

"Why not?" she asked.

"There's no more infinity stones and no more vibranium," Natasha said frankly.

"Oh yeah. How about a holographic body?"

"What for?" Steve asked.

"To paint my nails."

"Your holographic nails?" he echoed, skeptically.

"It's a girl thing," Natasha told him.

He blinked. "I'll take your word for it."


End file.
